Recreation

Outdoor Activities

Redding is a place where people vacation. With in one hour you can be to Mt. Shasta to the north or Lassen Park to the east. Both offer a host of relational activities all year round. Closer to home Shasta Lake and Whiskeytown Lake offer boating, swimming and other water sports. Whiskeytown is also home to a variety of nature hikes and mountain bike trails.

Shasta County offers something for everyone. Near the base of Shasta Dam is the Shasta Off-Road Vehicle Park that allows off road vehicles a place to explore. With the Sacramento River running right through the middle of town, anglers find comfort in the fact that are fishing one of the top fishing spots in the country. Trophy trout have been caught along the river.

Castle Crags State Park:Dominated by soaring spires of ancient granite, Castle Crags State Park is located in the forested mountains six miles south of Dunsmuir, and approximately twenty-five miles north of Shasta Lake. The most popular activities are swimming and fishing in the park's two miles of cool, quick-running Sacramento River, and hiking in the park or into the surrounding primitive backcountry.

Winters are cold and wet, but with long warm summers and easy access the park is a popular place to camp or picnic from about the first of April to the end of October. Elevations range from 2,000 feet along the river to more than 6,000 feet at the top of the crags.

From the park one can see several dramatic features. To the north, dominating everything else for a hundred miles around is 14,162-foot-high Mount Shasta, an incredibly beautiful, snow-covered volcano, now dormant. Closer to hand are the glacier-polished crags for which the park is named. A still different formation can be seen to the southwest, where Grey Rocks form the crest of Flume Creek Ridge.

Mt. Shasta:
Mt. Shasta towers 14,162 feet high surround by a valley. The elevation of the city of Mt. Shasta is 3500 feet and sloping upwards. The city limits are contained in an area of 3.4 square miles. The sphere of influence extends about 41 square miles and is surrounded by the Shasta Trinity National Forest.

Shasta Lake:Shasta Lake is the largest man-made reservoir in California. When full, the lake has 370 miles of shoreline, which exceeds that of San Francisco bay. Shasta Lake contains 30,000 surface acres and holds 4,550,000 acre-fee of water. Shasta Lake lies behind Shasta Dam, which is the second largest (after Grand Coulee Dam) and second tallest concrete dam (after Hoover Dam) in the United States. Trinity Lake, when full, has 145 miles of shoreline, contains 17,000 surface acres and holds 2,500,000 acre-feet of water. Trinity Lake Dam is one of the highest earth filled dams in the world.

The NRA has outstanding wildlife viewing opportunities including 30 pairs of nesting bald eagles, over 60 pairs of osprey, and abundant deer and bear populations. Both lakes provide world class fishing opportunities. Shasta Lake has become a focus for bass fishing tournaments over the last few years.

Whiskeytown Lake:Whiskeytown Lake is about 8 miles from Redding. The lake offers sandy beaches, marina, camping facilities, excellent boating, plus numerous marked hiking trails. Situated on the south shore of the lake is a memorial to President John F Kennedy commemorating his dedication of the Dam in 1963.

Sacramento River Trails:To reach the Sacramento River Trail, proceed north on Market Street to Riverside Drive (left), which is

on the south side of the Sacramento River. Proceed west on Riverside Drive to the designated parking area. The trail begins and continues 3 miles on the south side of the river, at this point the trail continues over a footbridge where it then connects with the north side trail. The north side trail has several exits ; however, if one chooses to walk the entire trail, it is another 5 miles.